Why I Don’t Comment On Blogger Blogs

September 4, 2009

By Peter Pelliccia

OK, that’s not completely true as I do try to respond to every one of my commentators, of which some happen to have Blogger blogs. Other than that though I give those blogs a wide berth and if by some unfortunate accident I happen to land on one I’m out of there so fast I don’t even get the chance to read the title let alone the first few words of a post.

What really pisses me off about them is their crappy comment form. Heck, I don’t even mind that they’re nofollow, but when I’ve taken the time to read their post I don’t want to be hassled by a ludicrous comment form that on many occasions, depending on how the blogger has set it up, won’t even allow me to enter my url, and on top of all that, they’ve even installed those BS Captcha thingamajigs, and we all know how much they are detested by the public.

Even though many bloggers, like Ching Ya, are making the switch to self hosted WordPress blogs a whole lot still persist with Blogger and I’ve often wondered why. I’m not going into all the advantages of hosting your own blog, as I’ve already touched on several points with my Why The Professionals Host Their Own Sites. There was however one very important point that I missed.

[eminimall]

Realizing A Blogs Dollar Value

Let’s think of our blog as a business for a moment. In any normal business, the owner would invest a lot of time and money in improving it, making it more profitable and in the long run, all going well, he hopes to realize a huge profit when he finally puts it on the market. The same can apply to a well run blog, and this has proven to be so as many bloggers have made a nice sum of money by selling their blog. I’m not sure if anyone has ever successfully sold a Blogger blog?

So the question as to why bloggers still persist with Blogger remains. I think the fact that it’s free possibly has a lot to do with it. Many bloggers simply want an avenue to express themselves and Blogger is perfect for that. But what of all those “How To Make Money” Blogger blogs? Do they really think that anyone is going to take them seriously when they are using a free account? Shit, how much could they possibly be making when they can’t even afford to host their own blog?

I can only think of two possible reasons as to why they don’t make the move to a self hosted blog.

Too Expensive

Perhaps some of them believe it’s going to cost them an arm and a leg to own their own blog. Just to show them how wrong this line of thought is I think it best to list some hosting packages.

HostGator: A very popular host whose most popular plan is only $7.95 per month.

BlueHost: Offer professional hosting at only $6.95 per month and they are including one free domain which means no domain renewal fees which will save you a pretty penny.

HostMonster: This host is also offering a package that also includes a domain, and once again it’s only $6.95 per month.

That’s only 3 of hundreds of possible blog hosts, and as you can see they’re relatively cheap, and once your blog is established you will probably find that your adsense earnings more than cover your hosting costs.

Too Hard To Set Up

I think that perhaps the technical side of setting up a self hosted blog scares people off. It really shouldn’t, but if this is the only thing holding you back I have a possible solution. If you purchase a hosting package from one of the above links and run into trouble I will do my utmost to help you get it up and running. It’s always best to give it a try first as you will learn more from the effort, but if you get stuck just use the contact form to get in touch with me.

Man, it seems that I wasn’t the first one to write about his dislike for Blogger. It seems my old mate Mitch beat me to it, again LOL

I’m sure you will love the move to WP. I would suggest you secure your domain first so that no-one else takes it. Once you have the domain the move to WP can happen at any time.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Sometimes It just Doesn’t Pay Being Jack =-.

Unfortunately if you use blogger blogs you do not have total control on your blog, they can take it down if they want, and more important you don’t appear too professional (although you may not need to be…)Ian recently posted…Get Financial Freedom Fast the Easy Way

Hmm.. not sure if Blogger is holding back the PR. My site’s PR was built while using Blogger. ^^ Perhaps WP allows you to implement more plugins or maximize your site for better performances. I still come across high PR sites that use Blogger. So I’m sure that’s not the main issue.
.-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..16 Social Bookmarking Plugins to Promote Your Posts =-.

PR value doesn’t depend much on the domain. Whether you have a self hosted or blogspot blogs. It’s a matter of who links to you and the link authority.
.-= Ron@Boracay Hotels´s last blog ..Paradise Garden Resort Hotel Boracay =-.

First of all, thank you so much for the link love, Sire. ^^ I got a ping faster than my Google Reader. Yay!! 3rd Commenter!

If one is going to get ‘serious’ with their blogging, or planning for a business venture, always advisable to use self-hosting. Sire is spot-on about impressions. We HAD to pay some price to gain something else in return. To me, it’s all worth it! I’m in love with the convenience of comments-followups, SEO plugins and so much more! Ever since the migration, my commentators have doubled. Obviously, many are pro self-hosted sites.

I understand the worries about ‘technical’ part. Actually I’m in the process of writing an ebook about the migration. However, if you’re in a hurry, can always reach Sire or me (I’m no expert,but will try) for assistance. Best wishes! :-)
.-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..16 Social Bookmarking Plugins to Promote Your Posts =-.

Heck Ching Ya, your post was the obvious choice as it fit so well into this post. I am so glad that I found your blog, and I do believe that was the first post I read. I like your style and the way you cover each topic with such great depth.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Dominance Is All About Your Domain Name =-.

People are scared and often back away from it. I know many who can help with this process and get you on your feet in no time.

People must believe in themselves and take the leap of fate. I also hate it when I see confusing comments forms and ones that say “The code you entered was not correct”, etc.
.-= George Serradinho´s last blog ..Thesis Tutorial – Adding header images to sidebar widgets =-.

Tell me about it George, and what is most frustrating is when you spent some time leaving a lengthy comment only to find you lost the damn thing because you typed the wrong captcha code.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..WassupBlog’s Ultimate Blogging Contest =-.

The beauty of blogger is it’s free and there are some pretty decent templates floating around but, the problem with free is that it costs nothing to make a blog which means there’s no responsibility or commitment to it. Which, in turn, allows shite splogs to be created by what can only be described as an army of YouTube commentators!

Some of the support tickets I get from blogger owners don’t even get answered because of the complete nonsense they contain. Some are quite good though but even those ones still have to use the blogger default comment form which doesn’t do anything to help open the community up to other platforms. Blogger only loves blogger it seems.

I agree with you about some people not being technically capable of installing their own blog or scared of the cost of hosting but there are other free options out there for example, (self plug!) you can have a WordPress 2.8.4 blog for free at The Comluv network and there are quite a few other free WP sites out there too.

I think the best bet is to try one of them and get used to WordPress for free and then when you’re ready, go and get an auto install version on paid hosting (I think @spotter does something like this).

great blogging as ever mate!

btw.. how are your infolinks performing? any better than kontera?
.-= Andy Bailey´s last blog ..Update across the board for Blogger CommentLuv =-.

I forgot all about your Comluv network Andy, and that would be a great way for them to get a handle on WordPress before they invest in their very own WP blog on the very own domain. That’s almost as exciting as moving into your first home. :smile1_ee:
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Sedo For Buying, Selling And Parking Domains =-.

People should start out with blogger or wordpress free blogs to see how the process of blogging is but you are right people don’t want to spend the money on something. Blogger or any of the free blogs can take your blog away from you very fast. I think having a self hosted blog is the best solution, because you can do anything you want with your blog. Greg Ellison
.-= Greg Ellison´s last blog ..[Plugin: WP-Affiliate] plugin doesn’t work anymore with WP 2.8 =-.

I agree with all your points Greg and I only hope that people take the plunge and make the move before something happens and they lose all that hard work they’ve invested in their blog.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..The Woes OF Childbirth At 65 =-.

I have a blogger blog and you are wrong about me as to both comments and why I have a blogger blog. If you go and leave a comment on my blog, you will see that I have it set up without captchas and it has the ability to put in name and url. Pretty much the same as yours. So, it is only the less experienced bloggers using blogspot that make the comments annoying.

The reason I am using blogspot is because when I first began I was a newbie and wanted simple and free. Now, I am more than willing to spend money and know enough to easily use WordPress, but why do I stay? Because I worked so hard building up links that I don’t want to lose them. Had I known then what I know now, I would have gotten a url without blogspot in it (which you are now allowed to do). But the thought of starting over kills me. And other than the word blogspot in my url, what is the big difference. My template is custom, so my blog doesn’t even look like a blogspot blog. Shouldn’t my content be the most important thing?
.-= Jennifer´s last blog ..The Beatles are Back =-.

Hi Jennifer, thanks so much for your comment. I’ve left a comment on you Beatles are back post, and yes you have set it up so it is easy to leave a comment but unfortunately I may never know if you leave a reply

I can see that you have put together a wonderful blog, but the very fact that it is a blogger blog means that all the hard work you’ve put into it may be lost if Google ever decides to pull the plug, and that is the most important feature of owning your own domain, the blog is truly yours.

Even though I have never done it I’ve heard that you can migrate blogger blogs to WordPress, at least if you ever decide to go that way the blog will truly be yours.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Blog Me This You Blogging Fools =-.

I myself don’t care about pagerank. I didn’t USED to comment on blogger blogs for the most part because they weren’t commentluv-enabled (but that was fixed awhile ago).

I think the comment form does have a lot to do with it; wordpress is simply more user-friendly.

And I agree with the Flexsqueeze – that’s what’s powering my Virtual Coach site. Very nice indeed. (My BarbaraLing site is now more ME-oriented instead of affiliate oriented, so I dove off the deep end regarding that… :) )
.-= Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog ..How to make and write a Provocative ebook Table of Contents TOC =-.

I am simply amazed at what you can do with Flexsqueeze. I’m just itching for some free time so that I can start implementing some season and special occasion orientated ‘skins’.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Why I Don’t Comment On Blogger Blogs =-.

I am in the same boat as Sire. I have tried to comment on blogs such as ChingYa’s, but as soon as I see that unfathomable Blogger comment form, I close the window because its unusable.
.-= David´s last blog ..Writing for Search Engines and People =-.

I don’t like how most blogger blogs take you away from the article you’re commenting on in order to leave a comment. That’s annoying as can be.
.-= Bob@Free Online Speed Reading´s last blog ..What is the Average Reading Speed of Americans? =-.

Actually, that’s kind of dangerous in the same way that you’re pointing out people are taking a chance hosting on blogspot.

The problem with getting a “free” domain from your hosting company, is that it usually means the domain name is registered to THEM, not you. If you ever decide you want to change hosts, you might not get to take “your” domain with you.

Just something to think about.

Todd
.-= Todd Morris´s last blog ..Is It Wrong To Use My Daughter As A Prop? =-.

Shit, I never thought of it that way Todd. I always figured I would take the domain with me but that I would have to foot the bill from now on.

I may ask them the question just to see exactly what goes on with the free domain.

OK, this is the response I got from Hostmonster after asking the question.

The domain is registered in the name of the user, our company pays for the renewal of the domain each year while they use our hosting services. If they move to a new host, they keep the domain, however they will need to pay to renew the domain name each year.

I sometimes wonder why bloggers would want to restrict the amount of comments they could get by restricting the options on their comment form. Makes no sense whatsoever.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Tap Hose And Dinosaur Park In Center Of Adelaide =-.

I think that being on blogger or any free service is really not the issue here but rather the bloggers capability of making a blog compelling enough and taking the time to improve the users experience. Not taking the time to do this suggest that the particular person who owns the blog is not really concerned and therefore does not transmit any credibility. There are just so many templates and plugins that are available now (even for blogger) that there is no excuse of still maintaining a blog on a standard template. I agree with you that it is very annoying to try and leave a comment on a “standard” blogspot form, specially if they have the captcha thing enabled. It is really a kick off. And just like Kikolani said, you can also remove the “standard” nofollow from blogger as well as setting up your own custom domain. The later is what I do not understand why there are “serious” blogger users that still have not used these feature. Go figure
.-= DiTesco @iBlogZone´s last blog ..Bing SEO Toolkit – One Of The Best SEO Tools =-.

That’s all so true DiTesco, but what worries me is that some of these bloggers are really very good, have invested a whole lot of time on their blogs and it would be a shame if for some reason Google decided to change the rules on them, or developed a major problem that could possible cost them their blog. At least with your own domain you make the rules and you can keep backups to ensure that even if something goes wrong you can restore your blog.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Have The Gremlins Invaded Twitter? =-.

Well Sire, I knew you’d finally follow my rant on this same topic many times. It’s the commenting part that I hate. If you want to receive email notification back that someone has commented after you, you have to create an account. If you have multiple blogs, you have to create multiple accounts. I don’t even remember creating the first account I have, but it only corresponds to my business blog. So, if I want to comment through this blog, I do it knowing that I’m wasting my time because I’ll never know someone responded to me, or after me.

As for PR; man, that’s garbage. lol

And finally, for people who are scared of creating their own on a regular host, the truth is that all the major hosting companies have something that allows you to create a blog on their site, and almost every single one of them uses WordPress. And, since most of us agree that WordPress is the easiest and most customizable blogging software out there, all you’d have to do is then go find a theme you liked.

No excuses, except for the “free” part; heck, if you want free, then go to WordPress.com; at least everyone else can comment there.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..Blog Day 2009 =-.

The thing is, Sire, most people don’t have the technical knowledge to know how to set up their own blogs. That’s not a slam; it’s just how it is. So, if there’s someone to help, including the host, then that works best.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..No, Reading And Creativity Are Obsolete =-.

We were one of those folks. We were paying to have blogs set up for us, then we finally chose to hire someone to teach us how to do it ourselves. So, we’ve been paying to have someone (not anymore) set up a blog when it takes us all of about 30 minutes to create the database and upload the WP files.
.-= Colleen´s last blog ..Kennewick Real Estate Listings =-.

Anyone using blogger is missing out on a lot of comments – especially if they don’t select the anonymous option that allows people to enter their name and URL (and most don’t).

They are also missing out on Retweets on Twitter unless they’re wise enough to use a URL shortener. (I recommend su.pr because it has other benefits). Blogger URLs truncate when Tweeted so to copy/paste them in a RT requires doing it twice – once for the Tweet and a second time to capture the entire URL. I guarantee when we’re busy that doesn’t happen and Blogger blogs get far fewer RTs than WordPress blogs.

On top of that there are many more upgrades for WordPress than any other platform. I wrote about why we use WordPress for all of our blogs in the post I’ve linked to the URL field for this comment. There are some great tips and plugins in that post.

If anyone is serious enough about moving to WordPress that they would pay to have it migrated Derek Semmler has experience migrating blogs from other platforms. I can put anyone in touch with him.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Instantly Acquire 76 High Quality Incoming Links =-.

Actually, I’m surprised anyone would have a Blogger blog. Why develop a blog on someone else’s domain? Kinda like putting all sorts of time and money into a house you are renting. Yikes!
.-= Colleen´s last blog ..Kennewick Real Estate Listings =-.

Plus, I’ve heard of these blogging platforms deleting blogs when they get too overly promotional. Not sure at what point a blog becomes “overly promotional.”
.-= Colleen´s last blog ..Kennewick Real Estate Listings =-.

Sire I love this post, I feel like you vent through posts in the same fashion that I do (or vs versa), the cpatcha things in comment fields are by far the fastest way to get me to not comment on your blog.
.-= Extreme John@Extreme John Blogs and Business´s last blog ..Sunday Smash: Do Follow, Greasemonkey, Twitter Talk =-.

I’m a Blogger Blog star in that I volunteer my time support Blogger. Though I have taken a long leave of absence from the support forums, I do know Blogger is making a lot of changes. Hopefully they will eventually change the comment form to be more like WordPress.

Hi Rose, long time no see, at least on this blog. While I agree they have made a lot of changes, I’ve actually got a Blogger blog, you still do not have the reliability of having your own domain and owning your own blog. If a blogger really wanted a wordpress type blog they could use wordpress.org but again it’s not really their blog. They are only renting the space and could get kicked off or lose their blog at the whim of their host.

I also hate commenting on Blogger Blogs just because you need to fill the captcha code for every comment.

BTW Sire, I thought you stopped posting because you had the contest post as your first post. I just noticed that you were writing almost everyday.
.-= Asswass´s last blog ..Monday WOP: Do you use Affiliate Links on your Blog Posts? =-.

While I agree that a serious blog, especially if it is part of your business, should be powered by WordPress and on your own domain, I don’t think that’s true for all blogs.

I have a few blogs on blogger that I set up when I was learning and testing multiple platforms. I keep them there and post to them now and then, but most have really been replaced with similar blogs on my own domains.

One reason not to use WordPress is that it can be a real pain to keep it upgraded to the latest version and newest plug-ins. I’m running several versions behind on all my blogs because I just haven’t had the time and energy to update them, especially since I was having problems with the automatic update and a couple of the plug-ins were incompatible with the theme I was using.

So, not only is there cost in a self-hosted blog, there are technical issues that aren’t as simple as some would have us believe.

One of the reasons to have a blog on blogger and wordpress.com is to claim your name before someone else grabs it, for whatever reason.

One of my popular blogs was using my name on blogger, until I moved it to another site. Without thinking, I deleted that blog and someone else grabbed it. Now, it’s promoting things that I never would promote.

I got my johndilbeck.wordpress.com blog for the same reason. To grab my name. It was originally going to be an affiliate marketing blog, until it was suspended for being commercial. I moved all the commercial posts to 21stCenturyAffiliateMarketing.com and left the others. The folks at WordPress.com restored my account and I haven’t had any further problems.

If someone is just blogging for the fun of it or for a hobby, I don’t see anything wrong with using WordPress.com or Blogger. For a business, however, I agree with you; host it on your own domain using WordPress, even if it costs more and takes more work.

As far as commenting, as others have said, that can be made simple or difficult on just about any blog platform, and most people aren’t all that interested in comments, possibly because they don’t get any.

Whether they don’t care about comments because they don’t get any or whether they don’t get any comments because they make it more difficult than it needs to be is one of those “chicken or egg” questions.

(I hope you took the time to get a drink and snack before reading my comment!)

I think a lot of people just think it will be hassle moving it. At the end of the day though, they have a safety net… if for some reason it does seem too much for them, they can always go back to using blogger!

Sire,
I am like you I do note even bother commenting on blogger blogs any more. I just never published it like you. Hopefully people will switch over because they realize it is costing them comments and visitors.
.-= Tycoon Blogger@Make Money Blogging´s last blog ..“Rookie Blogger of the Year” Contest Announced on Tycoon Blogger =-.

Hi Sire, nice post. Free domain like Blogger is good to learn about blogging, and afterward we should start a professional blog if we are serious about blogging.

Hosting and domain is actually cheap, the real problem is if someone doesn’t know how to set up a professional blog, then he will think it’s difficult. That’s survival of the fittest. That’s how blogosphere limits its population ;-)
.-= Isaac | GoBlogger´s last blog ..The Secrets of Unique Blogging Voice =-.

Hi Isaac, ‘survival of the fittest’? I’ve never thought of it that way, but imagine if you were to help just one blogger who made it to the big time. Don’t you think it was worth the effort to help him/her on their way?
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Tap Hose And Dinosaur Park In Center Of Adelaide =-.

I think a lot of bloggers are too lazy to move away from Blogger. What I don’t get is why they don’t at least use another free Blog hosting service. There are countless available, all with more friendly comments section.

Spot on Sire. I also think why some bloggers stick with Blogger is they can put in Adsense easily which they can not do if they use the free WordPress. They want to earn money without spending a dime. Little they know, if they’re really serious about it, they are losing earnings by not having their own domain name and host.
.-= MichaelR@VoIP and Tech Blog´s last blog ..All About the V Thing =-.

Ummm… some of us just use Adsense to pay for our custom domains. WordPress.com won’t only not let you use Adsense, but they charge you for using your own domain as well. Not to mention WordPress.com is a complete joke because they charge you ridiculous prices for the most basic functionality, like editing your template code.
.-= J´s last blog ..Blogger vs. WordPress =-.

Ah but WordPress can help you pay for both a custom domain and hosting service. When Mitch and Sire talk about using WordPress I think they are assuming using a hosting service other than WordPress.com
.-= Ned@Baltimore Investing´s last blog ..2009 Baltimore Tax Sale Results =-.

Ha! This by far one of the few posts that I agree, of all the blogs that I read daily. “Do they really think that anyone is going to take them seriously when they are using a free account? Shit, how much could they possibly be making when they can’t even afford to host their own blog?” These two sentences I will copy and paste them on forums on Digital Point every time I see someone who is using Blogger and is “teaching” how to make money.
.-= jason´s last blog ..What is going on with WordPress? =-.

I’m one of those rare technically inclined people that switched from WordPress to Blogger. Why?

1. I don’t have the TIME for WordPress. The setup and configuration takes a lot longer than it does with Blogger, mostly because WordPress is so flexible and full of options – options that usually aren’t all that great on their defaults (at least for me).
2. I can’t convince myself to lay down the money for even a shared host if I’m not really going to take advantage of it. There was a time in my life when I spent so much time configuring and tinkering with my WordPress blog that it was worth the money. Those days are now long gone.
3. Blogger offers the functionality I need, nothing more and nothing less.
4. WordPress.com as a host is a lot worse than Blogger.com as a host (WordPress wants to bleed you dry for every little option like using a custom domain or editing your template code).
5. I don’t have to worry about security threats. The platform is automatically updated for me. Everything in my blog can be easily backed up to two small files. With WordPress I had to keep my entire WordPress folder and my database.
6. The economy is so bad right now that I cannot confidently say that I will be able to afford a host in the future. Using a free host saves me the possible headache of losing my site.
7. I like the unified commenting platform. It means I can just sign in and any Blogger blog I come across is already going to have me already set up for commenting. No individual website sign ups and no need to re-enter your information every time you change websites.
8. I like the community because it fits me better. The Blogger community seems more dedicated to the art of blogging. The WordPress community seems more dedicated to the art of web design.

The issue for those of us who don’t have Blogger blogs is that for us to leave a comment AND get a notification that someone has responded to us, if they do, is that you have to sign up for a Blogger account that you don’t want to use. Now, some folks love signing up for anything, but most of us who visit lots of blogs will basically ignore most Blogger blogs for just this reason. What the point of leaving a comment that you never know if it’s been responded to or not?

Not that your points aren’t valid, by the way.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..ReadSpeaker =-.

You don’t necessarily need a Blogger account – just an OpenID compatible account (which a lot of sites are participating in now). It doesn’t bother me that someone with no account gets no emailed updates. Most of the time people that choose to post their name and email rather than use a legitimate account are using fake information anyways (at least in my experience).
.-= J´s last blog ..Blogger vs. WordPress =-.

I never said you SHOULD bother. However I do believe that you should be aware that you are grouping yourself in with a bunch of anonymous people and accept the responsibility that comes with that. Some of us bloggers simply don’t care about unregistered users because a vast number of these are undesirables on a blog anyways. A lot of times that refusal to take unregistered comments is intentional (I’ve done it, both on Blogger and on WordPress). If you’re going to lump yourself in with a bunch of bad apples, you’ve got to at least accept that some people aren’t going to want your basket.
.-= J´s last blog ..be careful what you wish for =-.

I don’t know exactly what Open ID is but I see all kinds of various things used on sites, “Sez Who” is another example.

I don’t want to register with all kinds of different services I just want to comment and like Mitch I like to get notices of reply comments. That’s what brought me back to this thread, I found your comments interesting.

You do make some good points about Blogger that I hadn’t considered. Especially #5

>The Blogger community seems . . .
I think there may be a little more sense of community between Blogger users. (a good thing) I think the point Mitch is making is you may be excluding some members of the greater blogging community without realizing it.
.-= Ned@Baltimore Investing´s last blog ..2009 Baltimore Tax Sale Results =-.

I understand and accept that. I’m not blogging to get fame and fortune. I’m one of those bloggers that just likes to write. And if I really want to make a comment on someone’s site, I will sign up if need be to do it. I accept that when I go to a blog I’m on their territory, not mine. Blogs weren’t originally meant to be money making, fame & glory business machines where it’s all about how to make more traffic. They started out as just simple HTML coded “online journals” that were put up by people that had a passion for writing.

I actually used to hold the same viewpoints you all do. People change, though, and with them their opinions. I came to the realization that I had lost sight of what I really started in the first place for, and I returned to it.
.-= J´s last blog ..be careful what you wish for =-.

And the blogger platform is fine for that. But I like the interaction with my readers (and interaction with intelligent commenters on other blogs) So I like the idea of things that encourage commenting and dislike things that are an impediment to commenting.

If it wasn’t so easy to comment here I wouldn’t have met you. (You might still be here but I wouldn’t)
.-= Ned@Baltimore Investing´s last blog ..2009 Baltimore Tax Sale Results =-.

Hi J, thanks for starting a very interesting conversation mate. I would just like to add one thing though, and that is I’m actually talking about a WordPress blog on your own domain and not those freebie WordPress.com blogs.

Also WP have made some pretty huge advances, one of which is their automatic upgrades which just takes a click of the mouse, although it doesn’t seem to work for some people.

I would like to point out that I’m not saying Blogger is bad, just that I don’t like commenting on them, and I have always felt that if they were serious about blogging for money they would make the move to hosting their own blog. May I point out that I am not the only one of that opinion, I know that a lot of advertisers will steer away from Blogger blogs, and one has to wonder why they would take this stance.

I couldn’t agree with you more!! I host my own blog and I love it. Hostgator offers a great service and their customer service is top notch. I use wordpress and it is really simple. I am a newb at blogging but I wouldn’t have done it any other way. Great article though!
.-= Dan Grant´s last blog ..Week 3: Blogging and Twitter- Global Domains International GDI =-.

You’ve actually made my point, J. If it’s assumed that I’m a bad apple, then I don’t want to bother with you. Not sure if you’re American or not, but over here we practice innocent until proven guilty. At least that’s the law of the land, whether most people actually believe it or not.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..No, Reading And Creativity Are Obsolete =-.

How do you have an email address with that kind of reasoning? This is the internet, not a court room. The same rules don’t apply here because there are no internet police or internet trials. Everyone is out on their own. That innocent until proven guilty kind of reasoning applied to anything else online other than blogs quickly becomes destructive (Why have a firewall? You’re innocent until proven guilty!).

If you think I should treat a basket of bad apples like something special just because you’re in it, I really don’t want you to bother because you’re just proving yourself to be selfish and unrealistic. Why should I make sure a bunch of trolls and spammers have email updates (or the chance to post anonymously) just because you for some reason as of yet unexplained just have some vendetta against typing in a user name and password? It just doesn’t make any sense.

Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m an IT freak and I see the value in user names and passwords when it comes to security (both for me and for the user – for example, using the current method you are anyone could post a comment posing as you – at least if you use a user name you can point that glaring error out, and if it’s a site that doesn’t allow anon comments in the first place that would never happen). OpenID is starting to eradicate the need for creating a user name and password for multiple sites, so that burden is taken away from the user.

The more I talk to you the more I’m beginning to realize I need to start blocking anon comments again on my blog. There’s honestly no logical reason to allow them.
.-= J´s last blog ..be careful what you wish for =-.

Two, I’m selfish just because I allow people to comment on my blog without having to sign in, but you exclude half the population because you’re worried about spam?

I don’t worry about spam. With WordPress, more than 99% of any spam that comes in gets caught by that program. We all can also train it to look for new spam. I might have 3 or 4 pieces of spam slip through every two weeks; it’s very good software.

I see allowing anyone to post to my blog as being user friendly. I don’t worry about those other things. If you don’t want me or Sire or anyone else posting comments to your blog, it’s fine with me. But see how easy you’ve been able to write here, without impedance. Something Blogger doesn’t allow; what a dichotomy.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..Blog Day 2009 =-.

Why should I make sure a bunch of trolls and spammers have email updates (or the chance to post anonymously)

J, firstly trolls and spammers wouldn’t be interested in updates. Secondly I provide email updates as a service for my commentators, if they do now wish to avail themselves of that service they simply don’t sign up for it.

To me WP is very customer/guest orientated and I prefer to make things as easier as possible for them. I believe if they enjoy their time here and are not presented with any difficulties then they are more likely to return.

I kind of see where J is coming from here. Requiring people to register may very well lead to less comments.

However, I think it’s perfectly valid to take the position, that if they can’t be bothered to register before commenting, then whatever they had to say obviously wasn’t important enough to them that it HAD to be said on that particular blog.

And lets be honest here, the “real” reason why most people are opposed to having to register on a blogspot blog, has nothing to do with being notified. I’m not saying this applies to everyone, but in this day and age of blogging, it seems like the primary reason that many bloggers leave comments is the Expectation of a LINK back to their own site.

I used to be pretty tolerant of commenters … exactly your innocent until proven guilty attitude. But I gotta tell you, ever since I started getting put on those stupid “do follow” lists, I have a hair trigger finger when it comes to hitting the spam button.

Lately, the idea of asking people to register almost sounds appealing. I’d rather have real conversations with a half dozen friends are actually interested in discussing what I wrote, than get 60 or 70 1-2 line comments from people who’s “name” just happens to match the keywords of the website they’re linking to.

I’d just as soon they didn’t even bother stopping by.

In other words, I see absolutely nothing dishonorable in the idea of discouraging comments … if that’s what the blogger wants.

It’s a valid opinion, Todd. I’m not against anyone having a policy of wanting people to make others register if that’s what they want. It’s just that it certainly can’t be considered as “commenter friendly” by any means.

I will agree and disagree with your statement about “if they didn’t want to take the time to register, then whatever they had to say obviously wasn’t important enough to them that it HAD to be said on that particular blog.” The only reason I would ever read more than the first couple of lines on any post is because I was interested. And that’s when I want to make a comment, but if I’m stymied, then I’m not going to do it.

I take it from this end. I follow more than 230 blogs. I’m not stopping to register at every single one of them; just not going to happen. I read many random blog posts that someone shares on Twitter, and like to leave my comments here and there. If they say I have to register, I move on.

Your point is valid in saying that you’d rather have fewer good comments than a lot of bad ones. However, we both know that there’s a lot of people out there getting little to no comments. Those are the people who might be losing out by having a more strict commenting policy. If they don’t care, then that’s fine.

Either way, I’m really not overly emotional on the topic; I’m just not backing down from one because someone else gets emotional about it either. But I will say this; if you’ve ever visited any of the newspaper sites that allow comments from people as long as they register, and then you’ve seen those comments,… I’m thinking that making others register for comments may end spam, but it certainly doesn’t increase decorum. And, in that case, if it’s your personal blog you might want to delete those posts anyway.

In that case, though, you’re paying for it. Thanks for your response and point of view; I really do understand it.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..Repurposing A Previous Post =-.

I don’t understand you, Mitch. You pick an argument, try to shove your opinion down my throat, and then say you’re not going to back down because someone got emotional? Why do you feel you need to “stand up” in the first place? No one’s attacking you!

On top of that, you’ve done nothing but talk down to me and make jabs up until now, and even in this response you STILL have to insult me (“you’re paying for it”). Paying for what exactly? I’m not like you! I don’t have the same goals as you, and I don’t appreciate you trying to force your goals down my throat.

Sorry I ruined your comments with my differing point of view. I’ve said all I’m going to say about this.
.-= J´s last blog ..be careful what you wish for =-.

This one I have to respond to because you took that last line the wrong way. By that, I meant with a personal blog, one you’re actually hosting, like I am, you’re paying for it. That one was directed at myself.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..Repurposing A Previous Post =-.

I have to agree with you – there are very few blogger blogs in which I comment on. The whole captcha and everything totally annoys me.
I believe blogs are for interacting with others and creating relationships. And that should be facilitated and not made to be more difficult.
So we are both on the same page ;-D
All the best,
Eren Mckay
.-= Eren@ homemaking´s last blog ..Important papers organizer & how you can organize office papers =-.

you dont seem to understand the question ..How to I enable bloggers comments sections to respond to people comments… Blogspot only seems to allow for comments and not to replys….
.-= Fatima Da´s last blog ..Improving Self Esteem On Your Own =-.

@ Sire, That’s Edie with one “d” – like Edie Falco – Tony Soprano’s wife?
Anyway, I don’t make much – feels like a step above bottom-feeding really.
It beats working a second job in retail though, which is about the equivalent in payouts.
I’m new(er) at this, too, so maybe it’ll get better as I build into it.

I would like to thank everyone for their useful feedback it has been an enormous help. I’ve had my blog on Blogger now for two years. It recently dawned on me that as someone mentioned more than once, you are really at Bloggers disposal. I know what kind of a effect that can have as I had a website on AOL many moons ago and when they decided they were no longer hosting websites, I had to jump quickly to a different platform. (thankfully, I had copies of most of my files and pics:) Blogger was my choice because of its ease of use. I taught myself html way back when it was at 2.0 and the thought of brushing up on html and CSS was not an option at the time. However, I do agree Blogger is quite limited and I have longed to have my own domain name for quite some time. As is the case in the world we live in, the choices are limitless. I’m not so sure those who use Blogger are really aware of how their blogs are met my non-blogger users. I surely wasn’t until reading this post. Perhaps, they just don’t know how difficult it is to leave a comment that congers up a discussion or, perhaps, they are so focused on their next post it doesn’t matter to them.

I’m leaning toward WordPress with my own domain name but will probably visit more discussions like this to really get a feel for all that is out there. Thank you for the sometimes “heated” discussion and valid points on both sides.
.-= Louise´s last blog ..Taking a break… =-.

Thanks for the constructive comment Louise. I’m glad you didn’t take it personally. As to going to WordPress one day, I think that would be a great move, and I would suggest when making your move that you pick a host that offers a free domain for life.

I agree about the commenting thing, although I have come across a few blogger sites using dofollow recently.

Some people earn decent money from Adsense using only blogger sites – ever hear of a guy called Grizzly. I agree about building a brand etc, but if your only ambition is to pull in some ad revenue, these blogs are a perfect zero-risk way of getting your feet wet.

(PS – my site doesn’t currently support comments – sorry!)
.-= Vernon´s last blog ..Ballet for children =-.

I agree Sire! I hate Blogger blogs, and have even gone to extreme of unsubscribing to them because of the comment (lack of) features. I don’t have a blogger profile!

Another one that irritates me is having to use things like discus for commenting. Come on bloggers! The purpose of blogging is interaction, isn’t it!?!?
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Vinyl Vs Wood Fencing =-.

I enjoyed reading your post and the comments. Personally, it would really suck if all the hardwork you put in your blog will just be taken away without any notice or whatsoever just because you’re not paying for it. But I guess it’s not a ground for not commenting on free blogs.
.-= Leroy´s last blog ..Adding Value to Homes for Sale =-.

I use Blogger blogs all the time. I’m a big fan of the ease of use, and it is very simple. Even though there are not many plugins and templates for Blogger blogs, I like it because I’m so used to it :)

Ha ha ha, so knocked me down with this article bro. Yes, people complained about the comment form on blogger, on my old blog, so I put IntenseDebate and its works fine, its great. So I hope you’ll like to comment on blogger because now they can use JS-kit, disqus or intensedebate.
As you said, yes no one will buy a blogger blog, that make sense.
About time and effort, that’s make me worry. So I bought a domain and now I’m blogging with my self hosted domain with WordPress, I want people know that I’m serious with my blog especially the advertisers, lol!
I’m inviting you to check my new blog sire :) and give me your feedback.

Very good article!
Me too, in the beginning, i started to blogging with a Blogger blog. Why? Because it’s one of the most popular blog hosting and it was own by Google and Google is my king xD.
You ask: “Has anyone ever succeed to sell a Blogger blog?”
I think it’s normal no one could earn by selling Blogger blog, it’s because it is forbidden by Google to sell a Blogger blog…
At the beginning, i start a Blogger blog, i start a blog because i wanted to sell it but i didn’t read the TOS so i think i could sell it when i would want it, after i noticed in a forum that we couldn’t sell a Blogger blog, i immediately change to WordPress.
But WordPress and Blogger is really different, sure WordPress is more cool with many plugins to add, ect but i’m so s**k at php/html language!
I think it’s why people prefer Blogger to WordPress, it’s because it’s more easy to manage blog. ^^
.-= Sushie@ diet plans´s last blog ..To lose 4 to 6 pounds =-.

This is why I switched to WordPress. You can change the comment form with some coding. I did that and the form was just like WordPress. It’s something to think about if you have a Blogger Blog.
.-= Anthony @ Innovatively Simple´s last blog ..Things I’d Rather Do #1 =-.

I actually do, but I rarely use it. I’ve just come from a WP blog in order to reciprocate one of the comments left here, only to find that I had to log on to leave a comment. :thumbdown_tb: Sorry I don’t do that. That blogger needs to rethink his comment strategy.

I tried blogger for a niche blog once but i didn’t pursue it, but now that i have experienced what self hosted wordpress is capable of, i can never use blogger, except maybe for an automated niche blog but not a primary blog.Man,wordpress plugins are just awesome!

For people that use blogger i think few start because they don’t want to invest money yet on something they are not sure will succeed yet. You know there’s always this skeptism and some start out without knowing it will become successful and when it doesn’t they just let it be, atleast then they could fight for those who use blogger blog

I disagree with you that the make money bloggers don’t make money, infact to prove my point i had to search for Grizzly’s blog from my favorites and when i visited his site now he currently has 6501 readers. Check it for yourself here http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/ Hmmm… it seems i just did a free promo for grizzly, but hey, what are colleagues for huh?

I don’t think I said that they don’t make money, just that most people wouldn’t take them seriously until they hosted their own blog.

In regards to Grizzly’s blog, I know it’s very popular as I’ve seen Allyn Hayne mention his blog on more than one occasion. I’m not sure how much he makes on it but wouldn’t it be a shame if Google pulled the plug one day and he lost the whole lot?

Yeah, i think he decided to stick with it, if i remember correctly i think there was a time i read something relating to that on his blog. IF he’s making money doesn’t apply here, that guy ranks for different keywords on google, how can he not be making money? He’s a man that knows his onions

I scrolled down to your site now and realized i’m the first on the list of top commentators now,wow, in just few days you’ve kept me busy with commenting. Just out of curiousity Sire, do i get a reward for that? okay just playing with you but it will be notice to get an email address to contact you, i’ll like help in some areas. Thanks it’s been pleasant commenting here

I recently moved to WPress with my main blog as some of you know, glad I did that too!

Now I am debating whether to move my local based blog off blogger to WPress, I hate the comment form too, so I did at least add intensedebate, with the added bonus of being able to use commentluv with it, it has made a big difference with comments there… but you know, WP is looking more and more appealing with that site too.

I really should just move it because at times it’s… and can get so damn annoying.

Yeah I know mate, gonna see how the blogger set up goes for a couple of months, because I can then compare some differences with that and my WP one…
I have noticed a few things already, but it is likely I will move it at some point.
.-= rob sellen@portland bill´s last blog ..The Portland Bill site and what’s next =-.

For new bloggers I think it is great if they start of with free blogs like blogger but as they mature they should have their own hosted blogs.I prefer typepad as they are search engine friendly,I dont know why but I had some problems with installing themes,and recently I saw that blogger is providing some new themes that are search engine friendly.This time I might just try out blogger :)

I really hate Bloggers comment form. Community is very important to myself, and I simply don’t like how Blogger has set up their comment form. It didn’t seem too community friendly.

Several years ago, when I first started blogging I tried Blogger, I dumped it after the first day and moved to Typepad, I choose the paid version. I stayed with Typepad for about six months, until I realized that my hosting provider included WordPress as an option. I only had to click to install it, six years later I’m still using WordPress. Although I do comment on some Bloggers sites, they are in the minority.Moondancer recently posted…Upcoming post Exercises you can do at home

I am very thankful for the said information here. I too am a blogger and wants some updates that would greatly enhance my blogs. I want an easy access apps for now am using wordpress plug ins. I want to try new ones though.

Great post and I agree. Captcha on a blog is rediculous. It doesn’t stop spammers, anyway. And why make it hard for people to comment on a blog, when the comments help to bring in traffic?

I have a few Blogger blogs, but they are only there for backlinks and traffic. I only post to them by Ping.fm or with PLR content. I don’t bother wasting any time on them, otherwise. They’re just not worth it.David Smith recently posted…KeywordsToWebsites – Brand New Affiliate WordPress Plugin

When I 1st started blogging years ago I had a blogger blog so I understand your frustration completely. I think there are many thing about Blogger that don’t cut the mustard. I am a big fan of WordPress.Bill Gassett recently posted…Stopping a Foreclosure Via a Short Sale

Twitter: BlogStashdotcomI truly believe that the most important reason why so many bloggers use bloggger blog is the fact that is free and the idea that blogger blogs rank better because Google loves them.

And yes, how would you expect people to take you seriously if your blogging about making money online and you are showing that you cant even afford to spend a few dollars a month for your own domain and a hosting account?…

And lest not forget what happened to the moneymakerinfo.blogspot (not sure if that was the exact url). He was ranking high (often on 1st page of Google) for online money making related keywords, until one day Google decided that his bog was a spam and deleted it! He lost all that hard work and the money he was making from it. Yeah, a while latter he got the blog back, but its not on the 1st page any more.

I used Blogger only when I was starting and yes, it’s because its free and allowed me learn the ins and outs of blogging. But you’re right, anyone serious with monetization has to go with wordpress.

As for the technical stuff, the whole idea of servers, cpanels, & wp installs were intimidating to me at the beginning. Installing XAMPP on my pc helped me immensely to get up to speed.Jake recently posted…Severe Acne Treatment with Oral Antibiotics

blogger is receving a lot of features from google along with a new look
blogger may be gud for beginners who dont wanna put any money but sooner or later dey must consider migrating to WordPress, one of the reason better SEOAamir recently posted…Win Free Mobile Recharge by just Sharing on Facebook

I never used Blogger, but you’re absolutely right: Layout can be crappy, and most annoying is the Captcha input. But this relates to many websites or services. Some numbers or letters are hardly to read. Anyway, I guess WordPress is a far better service to start blogging. I’ve done so with a blog about speed reading techniques. At some stage however, I realised I had to move it completely, it’s just better to have control over certain things. Particularly comments. Thanks, it’s a feature rich comment form. Like the edit function.mark ways recently posted…What Is The Best Speed Reading Software?

I don’t know why anyone would want to make their primary blog reside on a platform they don’t own! It is possible by the way to modify the template to have do follow links. I am not sure you would want to though as blogger seems to attract a lot of spammers.Bill Gassett recently posted…Hopkinton MA Real Estate Market Report Jan-Dec 2011

My main concern is that in promoting my WordPress blog by commenting on other blogs, there’s no way to tell how many subscribers a blogger blog has. What a waist of time for me to sit and read a post and comment on it, if the blog has perhaps less then ten subscribers. But on WordPress blogs using feedburner, I can often find the subscriber count. I want to limit my blog commenting to only those blogs that have at least 1,000 subscribers. Better yet, I spent time this morning commenting on two blogs that have 20,000+ subscribers each! But how many subscribers does any particular blogger blog have? As far as I can tell there’s no way to know.

Well if thats your aim Gary you are probably wasting your time commenting on this blog because my subscribers don’t come anywhere near that amount.

Personally I don’t mind commenting on new blogs that have little traffic and perhaps no subscribers because I like to give them a little encouragement to help them along their blogging career. OF course the post I comment on has to have something of value otherwise I wouldn’t have stopped in the first place.

I happen to own both Blogger and WordPress blog. There is really nothing to be ashamed if you are in Blogger really. People are just too concerned about the security issues but that is it, nothing else.

About the comment system, there are various ways to hack the old fashioned comment system of Blogger. You can even install commentluv in it. So why hate Blogger blogs? Hayz, it’s just a matter of preferences I think.

I never said there was any shame in having them Noah, just that there are so many advantages to hosting your own. As to the comment system, perhaps there is a way to hack them to work better but most people don’t know how.

I don’t like blogger. I’ve never commented on one and didn’t know that their comment form was a hassle. I can’t imagine using blogger over WordPress or any other self-hosted platforms. We need to own our blogs. It’s that important. Some people are too cheap to consider paying such a tiny monthly sum for a self hosted blog.

Yep, especially those people who start blogger blogs for the sole purpose of running an online business. The way I look at it is if you’re going to start an online business then you should be prepared to invest in it and what better way than to host your own blog. Especially considering it will only set you back under $10 a month!

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